I just want to point out that while the hour or so I have been able to spend in the game has been fantastic, for some bizarre reason I can no longer get this damn game to run past the initial load screens. Its a major flaw, and its all over the steam and Codemasters forums without a general consensus on how to fix it. This is the absolute most frustrating time I have had getting a PC game to run since the day one Radeon drivers were borked for Mafia years ago.
I have contacted Codemasters, even going so far to advise them that I was with Icrontic.com who had people working on a review. To date, the support responses I have gotten have been inept at best.
On a game that was delayed a couple months, its inexcusable to launch a broken product, and as far as I am concerned, and many on the forums are, that is exactly what Dirt 2 is right now.
Thanks for the informative review. But, the water effects snapshot with DX11 seems to have artifacts to me. I think DX10 rendering looks better, more realistic.
Thanks for the informative review. But, the water effects snapshot with DX11 seems to have artifacts to me. I think DX10 rendering looks better, more realistic.
You have not seen the game in motion. The DX11 water in Dirt 2, seeing it move, splash, ripple, it was the first "Oh Wow" graphics moment I have had since Crysis.
You have not seen the game in motion. The DX11 water in Dirt 2, seeing it move, splash, ripple, it was the first "Oh Wow" graphics moment I have had since Crysis.
I don't have a HD5xxx card yet But I want to see that, I must search for a movie.
Dirt 2 is sufficiently arcade-y to slip in under the radar with people who tend to dislike the majority of quality racing titles because of their realism. Where Dirt 2 lacks in accurate simulation, it excels in providing a polished and entertaining experience that should appeal to a broad cross-section of gamers.
Dirt 2 is sufficiently arcade-y to slip in under the radar with people who tend to dislike the majority of quality racing titles because of their realism. Where Dirt 2 lacks in accurate simulation, it excels in providing a polished and entertaining experience that should appeal to a broad cross-section of gamers.
Totally. The more arcade-y elements definitely up the appeal for me.
Mirage - the artifacts are largely in part due to the lack of anti-aliasing. The DX 11 effects are taxing, and on my HD 5770 with all of the details cranked to maximum and DX 11 settings enabled, my frame rates would chug at times. I sacrificed AA to keep the framerates manageable. I'll sooner deal with jaggies then I will with blurry textures and shader effects.
My 8800 GTX actually runs this game better than my HD 5770. It's ironic, considering the game was built in close association with Radeon graphics. The 8800GTX gives me better framerates (though I don't have DX11 effects). The 5770 actually gave me some serious issues, such as borking the Steam overlay and preventing FRAPS from working, as well as not displaying properly translucent water when it hit my windshield (it would display as dark brown blocks, blocking my vision entirely).
Also, when you select a car, the game does a really cool transition to loading by taking a snapshot of the car in 3D space and putting it onto a photograph, which falls to a table while loading. The camera pans around the table, showing pictures and stats, until the camera enters another photo the represents the stage. On my 8800GTX, this cool loading method is seamless and flawless. On my 5770, the photographs would malfunction, and it just shows a blank square where the image should have been.
A lot of troubles. I'm playing the game on my 8800GTX until these things are addressed, it was too much to deal with for me. So Cliff is hardly alone.
I love that the water smears depending on what direction you're moving, and how fast. And I love that it covers only the portions that should be wet, rather than the entire windshield every time. It is top notch.
Nice stuff, this really displays the benefit of DX11.
Now if only I could get the damn thing to load, ffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!! Codemasters!!!
Things I have tried thus far,
Reinstalling games for Windows Live,
Cleaning and reinstalling my graphics drivers,
Shutting down all start up programs prior to loading the game,
Changing Dirt 2 to run as admin in Vista comparability mode,
Praying to the PC gaming gods,
Nothing works. I guess I am at reinstalling the game unless anyone has any suggestions? Normally there is a hack to remove the title add screens, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that, and if there is a way the guys at Codemasters support are not saying.
Here's my suggestion... uninstall any and all third party codecs / media players you have on your system, and replace them with ffdshow tryouts. That's what I have on my PC, and I don't have any issues with Dirt 2's startup.
download the cracked .exe for the game. DiRT(from what I read) and GRiD both used an on disc auth. system that sucked at working in a 64-bit environment and no support employee ever said anything besides update to the complaints.
I had to use a cracked .exe to get GRiD to run in xp x64, but didn't have to use the disc.
Overall though I am not really impressed with DiRT as a game. It looks like they took GRiD and put it on dirt. And what the heck they dumped the entire dmg display off. If you have ever played Pro-Street it looks like they used all the styling for everything outside of the races. Sweet pink lettering guys and wow I feel like I am really in an extreme hardcore rally event now......
K, for the record, Dirt came first, then Codemasters put it on the pavement...
Then again, Codemasters started the TOCA series two years before the Colin McRae rally series.
The pink lettering can be a bit much, but I'm happy with the overall style. It's modern and stylish, and it beats the redneck persona typically associated with motorsport - especially the off-road segment.
The water ripples look great, but those water spray sprites look awful and really distracting.
When you are ripping through it full steam it does not look as exaggerated.
Trust me though, in high resolution, you see those waves and ripples, and the light reflecting off of it all for the first time, and its a serious "OH WOW!" Moment if you are into graphics tech.
I gotta say, while the water effects on the puddle look neat, the windshield effects look shoddily done. They don't seem to apply in a realistic manner, it's like they aren't there one second then boom, fully immersed windshield the next. Theres no build up like there would be if you actually drove through a puddle. The sprays coming off the car look really artificial to me as well. Maybe that's just me though?
The spray the car throws up is still a sprite-based system - they didn't go full blast with DirectCompute when it came to actually throwing the water around.
I still think the way the pool accurately responds to the car is incredible though. Even the reflections you can see in the water move appropriately with the ripples.
I'm not denying, the water in the pool looks gorgeous. To me though the illusion is ruined by the terrible looking spray and the water on the windshield.
DiRT 2 is a worthy successor to the original, getting practically everything right. While I would have liked to have seen a greater emphasis on more technical rally racing, I had a blast with every aspect of the title. From the solid visuals to the sweet tracks, DiRT 2's got a lot to love.
Comments
I have contacted Codemasters, even going so far to advise them that I was with Icrontic.com who had people working on a review. To date, the support responses I have gotten have been inept at best.
On a game that was delayed a couple months, its inexcusable to launch a broken product, and as far as I am concerned, and many on the forums are, that is exactly what Dirt 2 is right now.
You have not seen the game in motion. The DX11 water in Dirt 2, seeing it move, splash, ripple, it was the first "Oh Wow" graphics moment I have had since Crysis.
I don't have a HD5xxx card yet
Awesome, I will check later in the evening then. Thanks!
Totally. The more arcade-y elements definitely up the appeal for me.
My 8800 GTX actually runs this game better than my HD 5770. It's ironic, considering the game was built in close association with Radeon graphics. The 8800GTX gives me better framerates (though I don't have DX11 effects). The 5770 actually gave me some serious issues, such as borking the Steam overlay and preventing FRAPS from working, as well as not displaying properly translucent water when it hit my windshield (it would display as dark brown blocks, blocking my vision entirely).
Also, when you select a car, the game does a really cool transition to loading by taking a snapshot of the car in 3D space and putting it onto a photograph, which falls to a table while loading. The camera pans around the table, showing pictures and stats, until the camera enters another photo the represents the stage. On my 8800GTX, this cool loading method is seamless and flawless. On my 5770, the photographs would malfunction, and it just shows a blank square where the image should have been.
A lot of troubles. I'm playing the game on my 8800GTX until these things are addressed, it was too much to deal with for me. So Cliff is hardly alone.
Edit - Protip. Video looks a lot better if you actually go to Youtube's site and view it in HQ mode.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9oviTVSTpX8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9oviTVSTpX8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
WOW, it looks very impressive. Thank you so much!! Let me start watching the HD5870/50 deals now
I love that the water smears depending on what direction you're moving, and how fast. And I love that it covers only the portions that should be wet, rather than the entire windshield every time. It is top notch.
Nice stuff, this really displays the benefit of DX11.
Now if only I could get the damn thing to load, ffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!! Codemasters!!!
Things I have tried thus far,
Reinstalling games for Windows Live,
Cleaning and reinstalling my graphics drivers,
Shutting down all start up programs prior to loading the game,
Changing Dirt 2 to run as admin in Vista comparability mode,
Praying to the PC gaming gods,
Nothing works. I guess I am at reinstalling the game unless anyone has any suggestions? Normally there is a hack to remove the title add screens, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that, and if there is a way the guys at Codemasters support are not saying.
If it works, you get Icrontic troubleshooting wiz of the week. I'll let you know.
I had to use a cracked .exe to get GRiD to run in xp x64, but didn't have to use the disc.
Overall though I am not really impressed with DiRT as a game. It looks like they took GRiD and put it on dirt. And what the heck they dumped the entire dmg display off. If you have ever played Pro-Street it looks like they used all the styling for everything outside of the races. Sweet pink lettering guys and wow I feel like I am really in an extreme hardcore rally event now......
The water ripples look great, but those water spray sprites look awful and really distracting.
Then again, Codemasters started the TOCA series two years before the Colin McRae rally series.
The pink lettering can be a bit much, but I'm happy with the overall style. It's modern and stylish, and it beats the redneck persona typically associated with motorsport - especially the off-road segment.
When you are ripping through it full steam it does not look as exaggerated.
Trust me though, in high resolution, you see those waves and ripples, and the light reflecting off of it all for the first time, and its a serious "OH WOW!" Moment if you are into graphics tech.
That's how I got it... free games for the win.
I still think the way the pool accurately responds to the car is incredible though. Even the reflections you can see in the water move appropriately with the ripples.